At the same time, there is considerable linguistic diversity within Baltimore, which complicates the notion of a singular "Baltimore accent".[1] According to linguists, the accent and dialect of African American Baltimoreans are different from the "hon" variety that is popularized in the media as being spoken by white blue-collar Baltimoreans.[5] White working-class families who migrated out of Baltimore city along the Maryland Route 140 and Maryland Route 26 corridors brought local pronunciations with them, creating colloquialisms that make up the Baltimore accent.

No cot–caught merger: The words cot/ɑ/ and caught/ɔ/ do not rhyme, with the latter vowel maintaining a raised position. Likewise, the word on rhymes with dawn and not don.

As in Philadelphia, the word water is often pronounced as wooder[ˈwʊɾəɻ] or, more uniquely, [ˈwɔɻɾəɻ].

As in most Mid-Atlantic cities, short a is pronounced with a phonemic split: for example, the word sad/æ/ does not rhyme with the word mad/eə/. Pronunciation is dependent upon a complex system of rules that differ from city to city.[8]/æ/ Tensing is also common in the Mid-Atlantic Region, with speakers in Baltimore adapting the Philadelphia pattern on intervocalic vowels.[9] For more details on the Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore systems see /æ/ raising.

A chart of the Baltimore short-a split compared to General American /æ/ tensing and the New York City short-a split

amity, animal, banana, camera, Canada, ceramic, family (there is a degree of variance with "family"; both [eə] or [æ] can be heard, depending on the speaker),[10] famine, gamut, hammer, janitor, manager, manner, manic, Montana, panel, panic, planet, profanity, salmon, Spanish, etc.; in NYC, this group also includes the exceptions am (the verb) and can (the verb)

The NYC, Philadelphia, and Baltimore dialects' rule of tensing /æ/ in certain closed-syllable environments also applies to words inflectionally derived from those closed-syllable /æ/ environments that now have an open-syllable /æ/. For example, in addition to pass being tense (according to the general rule), so are its open-syllable derivatives passing and passer-by, but not passive.A function word constraint also applies in NYC proper, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, where function words and weak words are typically lax.

The /ɑr/ vowel in words like start is often raised and backed, resulting in a vowel close to /ɔ/. Likewise, /ɔr/ as in bore can shift as high as /ʊər/ as in boor. This pattern has also been noted to occur in Philadelphia and New York.[12]

Canadian raising occurs for /aɪ/ before voiceless consonants, as in Philadelphia; for instance, the word like [lʌik] begins with a higher nucleus than live [laɪv].[12]

On the other hand, /aɪ/ may undergo smoothing before liquids, becoming [ɑ] before /r/ and /l/; e.g., fire is pronounced as [fɑɻ], in which a popular Baltimore Christmas joke: "Why were the three Wise men covered with soot?" "Because they came from afar."

[ə] is often eliminated entirely from a word when before a consonant; e.g. Annapolis = Naplis, cigarette = cigrette, company = compny.

The following is a list of words and phrases used in the Baltimore area that are used much less or differently in other American English dialects.

bixicated – (of a person) silly or simple.

down the ocean – (eye-dialect spellings include dayown the ocean or downy ocean) "down to/on/at the ocean", most likely referring to Ocean City, Maryland.

hon – a popular term of endearment, short for honey, often used at the end of a sentence. This word has been a popular marker of Baltimore culture, as represented in the annual Honfest summer festival and in landmarks such as the Hontown store and the Café Hon restaurant.[13]

natty boh – local slang for the beer originally brewed in Baltimore, National Bohemian.

According to linguists, the "hon" dialect that is popularized in the media and that derives historically from the speech of by Whiteblue-collar residents of South, and Southeast Baltimore is not the only accent spoken in the region. There is also a particular Baltimore accent found among Black Baltimoreans. For example, among Black speakers, Baltimore is pronounced more like "Baldamore," as compared to "Bawlmer." Other notable phonological characteristics include vowel centralization before /r/ (such that words such as "carry" and "parents" are often pronounced as "curry" or "purrents") and the mid-centralization of /ɑ/, particularly in the word "dog," often pronounced like "dug," and "frog," as "frug."[1][17] The accent and dialect of African-American Baltimoreans also share features of African American English.[17]

The films of John Waters, many of which have been filmed in and around Baltimore, often attempt to capture the Baltimore accent, particularly the early films. For example, John Waters uses his own Baltimore accent in the commentary during his film Pink Flamingos.[18]John Travolta's character in the 2007 version of John Waters's Hairspray spoke with a thick East Baltimore accent which may sound exaggerated to non-Baltimoreans. Likewise, several of the films of Barry Levinson are set in and around Baltimore during the 1940s-1960s, and employ the Baltimore accent. Michael Tucker who was born and raised in Baltimore, speaks with a West Baltimore accent.

Television drama series Homicide: Life on the Streets and The Wire are both set in Baltimore and include actors who are native White and Black Baltimoreans.[19] In the early Homicide: Life on the Streets episode "Three Men and Adena", a suspect, Risley Tucker, describes how he can tell whereabouts in or around the city a person comes from simply by whether they pronounce the city's name as "Balti-maw", "Balti-moh", or "Bawl-mer".[20]

In Season 4, Episode 7 of The Tracey Ullman Show, Baltimore actor Michael Tucker portrays the father of Ullman's character JoJo. The skit is set in a Baltimore row house. Tucker advises Ullman to "take a Liverpool accent and Americanize it." The episode called "The Stoops" begins with Tracey washing her marble stoops, which are the most common small porches attached to most Baltimore town homes (called row houses in Baltimore).[21]

Singer-songwriter Mary Prankster uses several examples of Baltimore slang in her song, "Blue Skies Over Dundalk," from the album of the same name, including, "There'll be O's fans going downy ocean, hon."

Comedians Stavros Halkias and Nick Mullen of the Cum Town podcast both hail from the Baltimore area and use the accent to discuss topics and stories related to Baltimore. Halkias's recurring Dundalk Ralph character is frequently used to mock the white working class culture of the Dundalk suburb.